Side event news from the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo including victories for the UK’s Charlie Carrel, Kuwait’s Salman Behbehani, and the American Justin Bonomo.

With most eyes on the blockbuster events at the Season 12 European Poker Tour (EPT) finale in Monte Carlo, you may be forgiven for not noticing the large scores being dragged in throughout the best side events in the business.

Charlie Carrel, 22, warmed up for his defence of his €25,750 High Roller, by taking down a €5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event. The young man from the UK topped a final table including the likes of Jason Wheeler, Oleh Okhotskiy, and Sergio Aido.

Carrel picked up €172,300 for the win. The young man who achieved notoriety for running up a huge bankroll playing online from a pittance has now earned over $2.2m in live tournament earnings and is fast becoming one of the most adept High Rollers in the business.

And he loves the EPT.

He came fifth in the EPT11 €10,300 High Roller in Malta for €183,800; won the EPT11 €25,500 High Roller at the Grand Final for €1,114,000; finished third in the EPT12 €25,750 Dublin High Roller for €234,100, and won the €10,200 High Roller at the same festival for €164,500.

The man must bathe in coconut milk.

BehBehani Overcomes a Special Final Table in the €5k Turbo

Poker’s most loveable Kuwaiti, Salman Behbehani, has managed to cleave and claw his way to the summit of a quite incredible final table to win the top prize of €92,210 in the €5,000 NLHE Hyper Turbo event.

The event attracted 65 entrants and created a €315,250 prize pool. It’s Behbehani’s second side event victory at an EPT event. He won the top prize of $51,480 in a $2,200 NLHE Turbo event at this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).

€5k NLHE Turbo Results

1 Salman Behbehani Kuwait €92,210

2 Stephen Chidwick United Kingdom €66,200

3 Igor Kurganov Russia €43,035

4 Davidi Kitai Belgium €32,470

5 Simon Higgins United Kingdom €25,220

6 Jean-Noel Thorel France €19,545

7 Fedor Holz Germany €15,450

8 Pierre Neuville Belgium €11,980

9 David Llacer Spain €9,140

Booming Bonomo Takes a €2k NLHE Event

Justin Bonomo has taken down one of the toughest side events on the schedule. The American, who decided that he was not going to do any interviews with PokerStars under protest of their recent behaviour, has beaten 376 entrants in the two-day €2,000 NLHE event.

The event created a prize pool of €729,440, and the Global Poker League (GPL) London Royals star now owns €110,600 of that, beating Ahmed Fatah in heads-up action after striking a deal.

It’s the second EPT €2k side event victory for Bonomo after defeating 235 entrants, including Fedor Holz in heads-up action, to take the first prize of €96,410 at EPT12 Malta.

It’s his second major victory of 2016 after winning an Aria $25,000 High Roller in Feb for $383,040 and is moving closer to that $10m live tournament earnings mark.

Steve O’Dwyer May be Down, But he Leads The EPT Player of the Year Race

It’s not often that Steve O’Dwyer comes away from a live event in the red, but unless he pulls a rather expensive rabbit out of the €25,500 High Roller hat, it looks like that will happen in Monte Carlo.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. O’Dwyer’s ninth place cash in the €50k High Roller gave him enough points to overtake Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald at the top of the EPT12 Player of the Year leaderboard.

The other big mover in that table is Ole Schemion. The young German is the undisputed star of this year’s Grand Final winning over €2.4m, and carrying away the €100k Super High Roller title. Schemion debuts at #6.

EPT12 Player of the Year Leaderboard

1. Steve O’Dwyer – 3,505.66 pts.

2. Mike McDonald – 3,504.18 pts.

3. Adrian Mateos – 2,901.41 pts.

4. Ivan Luca – 2,836,09 pts.

5. Georgios Zisimopoulos – 2,679.04 pts.

6. Ole Schemion – 2,528,04 pts.

7. Isaac Haxton – 2,483.16 pts.

8. Daniel Dvoress – 2,293.37 pts.

9. Nick Petrangelo – 2,255.86 pts.

10. Fedor Holz – 2,238.98 pts.

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